Author: Galya Globerman

Perhaps it was the weather, the warm morning sun, the cooling breeze, and the rustling leaves, or the crystal clear water flowing downstream that welcomed our feet and relieved us from the growing afternoon heat, or maybe it was making new friends and meeting old ones, reigniting conversations and thoughts that have been long forgotten, without the fear of COVID-19 lingering in the air … but Israel’s 2021 Planners’ Conference was a day to remember and reflect on.

 

My recurring thoughts address harmony and planning, and how we can plan in a way that promotes, guarantees, and encourages coexistence? And I mean coexistence in the broadest of terms: coexistence with our diverse neighbors, the environment, and different groups and institutions. Throughout the conference countless ideas were presented: we need to guarantee long-term home rentals; childcare centers should become our one-stop-shop for our neighborhood needs and could be used as tools for urban regeneration; tourism in open spaces needs to be bolstered while protecting our sensitive and ever-dwindling ecosystems; Arab townships need to be planned, not regulated; etc. Frankly, I agreed with most of it, but imagining a utopia is not too difficult of a task. Getting there is the challenge. How can we plan for, and achieve, a more harmonious country? The lectures I went to didn’t fully address this, the posters did so to an extent. Next time I will dig deeper into the different projects presented as they succinctly identified issues and solutions instead. Maybe then, more hows would have been answered.

 

Despite my unanswered questions, I enjoyed my time there. The Planners’ Conference isn’t supposed to provide solutions to all these problems, it is supposed to expose participants to different ideas, approaches, and individuals. As a student I find this to be the inherent value of the conference. I heard from experts and professors whom I would not have encountered at Hebrew University nor in Jerusalem and was able to expand my frame of reference. Next year I will be better equipped, and ready to search for more answers.